Cost-Effective Symmetric PbSe-Based Device for Thermoelectric Cooling

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Solid-State Physics
• Thermoelectric Engineering

Background:

• Thermoelectric cooling is vital for various applications but hindered by the high cost of tellurium (Te) in bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) materials.
• Developing cost-effective alternatives is crucial for widespread adoption of thermoelectric cooling technology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a low-cost, high-performance thermoelectric cooling device using lead selenide (PbSe).
• To investigate the carrier and phonon transport properties of copper-doped PbSe for enhanced thermoelectric performance.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a symmetric PbSe-based thermoelectric device using p-type Pb0.988Cu0.002Se and n-type Pb1.02Cu0.002Se.
• Characterization of the device's cooling temperature difference (ΔT_C) at different hot-side temperatures.
• Analysis of carrier concentration, power factor, lattice thermal conductivity, and figure of merit (ZT) of the p-type material.

Main Results:

• The PbSe device achieved impressive ΔT_C values of 32.8 K (at 303 K hot side) and 41.0 K (at 343 K hot side).
• The p-type Pb0.988Cu0.002Se exhibited optimized carrier density and a maximum power factor of 28.69 µW cm⁻¹ K⁻².
• Low lattice thermal conductivity (1.10 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹) and high ZT values (0.6 at room temperature, 0.68 average from 300-573 K) were achieved for the p-type material.

Conclusions:

• The cost-effective PbSe-based device offers superior cost-effectiveness for near-room-temperature thermoelectric cooling compared to Bi2Te3 devices.
• The enhanced performance is attributed to optimized carrier transport and significantly impeded phonon propagation in the p-type PbSe.
• PbSe presents a promising material for developing affordable and efficient thermoelectric cooling solutions.